Home > Media > 2013 > 10 May 2013 : Will WorkChoices rise from the ashes?

QTU president Kevin Bates

President’s comment 10 May 2013

Will WorkChoices rise from the ashes?

In trying to distance the federal Coalition opposition from the stain of WorkChoices, which Australians clearly rejected in the 2007 federal election, Tony Abbott has repeatedly claimed that WorkChoices is “dead, buried and cremated”.

The phrase is overkill (pun intended), and disingenuous. The 9 May release of the Coalition’s industrial relations policy is couched in terms of “improving” the current ALP Government’s Fair Work laws, presumably in a bid to avoid being seen as extreme.

Yet the proposed changes smell strongly of WorkChoices. For example, the Coalition wants to “remove the ability to restrict the use of Labor’s Individual Flexibility Arrangements”, but doesn’t dare mention the phrase Australian Workplace Agreements. It wants to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission with its draconian powers, but also wants employers to be able to “bargain” just with themselves on greenfields agreements. It wants to restrict protected industrial action so it can only happen after there “have been genuine and meaningful talks between workers and business at the workplace”, while further restricting unions’ entry into those workplaces and putting nothing in place to oblige employers to engage in any meaningful discussions.

The very language in what is supposed to be a serious policy document is at times laughably biased: for example, the document says the Coalition will “provide better protection for members of Registered Organisations” so “that members’ money cannot be spent on prostitutes, used for personal holidays, or withdrawn from ATM’s (sic) to be spent on personal items”.

QTU stands in solidarity

The Queensland Teachers’ Union wishes to express its shock at the killing of 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and stands in solidarity with the many brave teachers who risked their own lives to protect the students in their care.

These horrific events reveal the deep commitment and bravery of members of our profession under the most extreme of circumstances, and we are proud to stand with them at this terrible time.QTU, 16 Feb 2018